FCA Testimony—Jen McHugh (VIDEO)
Jenna asked me to speak this morning about how God has called me to coaching.
I have to be honest, for me coaching has two distinct and separate realms:
One side is the business of our sport where we work to win championships. And that’s so important. It’s our responsibility when athletes are trusting us to develop them and help them reach their potential.
The other is coming alongside athletes in an influential time in their lives and helping them to develop strength and richness of character.
When those realms overlap…SWEET SPOT!
When I approach the Reagan track each day for practice, I take the stairs.
Not for more exercise, but because I’ve dedicated those four stairs as a place for me to center on God in the chaos and lift up my girls.
On each step I lift a specific prayer:
1. Thank You
Life is so hard.
There’s real suffering…in our world, in our schools, on our teams.
Any day we get to take the track together is a blessing we don’t deserve.
2. Use Me
In essence:
I surrender.
Dial me in.
Let me see those precious girls beyond events executed and times run.
3. Make Your Presence Known
I see this daily in smiles, laughter, encouragement, finding the strength to go to the bottom of the barrel or even shaking it off when coach offends or a teammate annoys!
If God doesn’t delight in that, I’m not sure what it would take!
4. My final stair: Give My Girls the Strength to Contend—Reveal Your Strength in Them
Life is tough, but, with Christ, we’re so much tougher.
So I pray that God give my athletes the strength to endure.
We have to contend with our potential to accomplish it, and it takes steely nerve.
Contend with self
With fear of failure
With expectation
With one another
Facing that pressure is a privilege…for no matter if we succeed or fail, Christ is there, and a better woman stands on the other side.
My girls don’t know the stairs to our track are HOLY.
They don’t know that those four steps are where their coach invites our Creator to our track every day.
But I believe God knew what those four steps would mean for me as I pursue His plan and He calls me daily.
My four-stair prayer for my athletes today is the same hope that I have for their futures:
That they live lives of gratitude and
service,
full of God’s undeniable presence,
and equipped with His strength to CONTEND AND ENDURE when life gets tough.
Not sure if that’s HOW God called me to coaching, but it certainly is why!
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